Posts

Critical Thinking with AI: Frameworks for Students

Liza Adams · September 24, 2025 ·

Last week, I posted about my daughter using AI as a teammate, not a shortcut, as she heads to college. With boxes packed and CU-Boulder move-in happening tomorrow, I was hoping to create awareness about teaching kids responsible AI use.

Link to original post: https://lnkd.in/g3g82x92

The response surprised me: 552 likes and 174 comments with only a handful disagreeing.

My network skews toward people already using AI—leaders, marketers, and parents who follow the work I do helping teams work with AI teammates and use it responsibly. So this level of support likely reflects my network more than the general population.

But even accounting for that bias, parents shared stories of kids already using AI to build businesses and solve problems. Business leaders confirmed AI skills are becoming a hiring factor.

Most telling was what people asked for. Most of the skeptical comments weren’t “don’t do this.” They were “how do we avoid dependency?” and “how do we preserve critical thinking?”

The comments showed we’re in the “how do we” phase, not the “should we” phase. And that’s exactly where we need to work together.

Yesterday, my daughter and I sat down and discussed practical use cases for Google’s NotebookLM, Perplexity, ChatGPT’s deep research, agent, and study mode. She’s walking into a world where AI literacy will matter as much as any other core skill.

The 551 people who engaged reminded me that it takes a village to raise children. It’s going to take a village for all of us to learn how to use AI responsibly too.

The critical thinking concern keeps coming up, and it’s the right question. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on frameworks for that this week. My daughter certainly got a good dose of those frameworks yesterday 🙂

Our discussion focused on AI being only as good as the questions you ask. She learned how to give AI relevant context, guide its thinking, challenge its reasoning, check its work, and push for better logic. It’s about learning how to think with AI.

That’s what I’ll be sharing more of later this week: practical frameworks to teach critical thinking with AI, not in spite of it.

To all parents having that bittersweet moment of dropping off your child at college, you’re not alone. You’ve done well.

Daughter at college campus entrance with 'CU Boulder' sign.

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AI Is Already Deciding Who Buyers Consider

Liza Adams · September 23, 2025 ·

Many CMOs and marketing leaders still don’t realize that AI is already deciding which companies buyers consider.

While you’re debating whether to invest in AI, your buyers are already using Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini Deep Research, Perplexity, and ChatGPT Agent Mode to find and evaluate solutions. These tools influence what shows up, what gets trusted, and who buyers consider before a human ever visits your website.

AI is forming opinions about your company based on what it can find, interpret, and prioritize. That affects visibility, sentiment, relevance, and recommendation.

The question is “Will you guide that impact or let it happen to you?”

Join me and fellow CMOs and marketing leaders on October 8 for a day packed with sessions on the challenges that need to be top of mind right now. Starting at 9am ET, we’ll tackle everything from proving marketing’s value to building high-performing teams with limited resources.

At 11:15am ET, I’ll share how to show up in AI search and be recommended, covering practical ways to assess where you stand today, fix the gaps, and guide AI to understand what your company is best known for.

See the link in the comments to register for complimentary live and OnDemand access.

Elena Simou CMO Alliance

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AI for Learning: Parents, Guide Responsible Use Now

Liza Adams · September 22, 2025 ·

My daughter beat the curve on her first biochemistry exam with the help of AI study podcasts she listens to between classes at the University of Colorado – Boulder campus.

We spent the weekend on campus for Parents Weekend and celebrated a great 37-20 victory over Wyoming. Between campus tours, gatherings, and the game, studying and exams came up a couple times in conversation with her and her friends.

When they did, I casually mentioned AI study tools like ChatGPT’s Study mode and NotebookLM. Most of her friends had never heard of them.

These tools can:

break down hard concepts into simple terms
make practice quizzes and flashcards
create audio podcasts for review walks around campus, and
chat with it to get another point of view

I spent some time with my daughter on how to use AI responsibly and to help her with critical thinking before school started.

But here’s what I always tell her. AI is a mirror of your intent. Use it to help you learn, and it helps you learn. Use it to cheat, and it helps you cheat.

She doesn’t ask AI to do her homework. She asks it to help her understand what she’s struggling with, collaborate with it to give her other perspectives, and test her knowledge before exams.

We’re raising kids who will work with AI their whole careers. Teaching them to use it right now goes beyond college grades. We’re building good judgment for their future.

The tools are amazing, see screenshots of ChatGPT and NotebookLM study features below. But the guidance on how to use them responsibly? That’s part of our job as parents. Start teaching them now, while they still listen to us. 😉

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AI Teammates: Transform Marketing Results

Liza Adams · September 21, 2025 ·

One marketing team now has 100+ AI teammates working alongside 25 humans. The results: 75% faster content creation, 98% better lead qualification, 35% improvement in campaign performance.

I’m speaking at MAICON on October 14-16 in Cleveland to share exactly how. The Marketing AI Institute team wrote a thoughtful blog that covers this approach and what makes it different.

My work has always centered on three things: elevating the strategic value of marketing, using business as a force for good, and ensuring diverse voices are heard at every table. AI amplifies all of that when we use it thoughtfully.

We’re at a turning point where AI can make us better at the strategic work we love. Digital twins that understand how you think. Campaign strategists that build on your expertise. Creative partners that amplify your ideas without losing your voice.

The teams getting real results are reimagining how work gets done when humans and AI complement each other’s expertise, overcome each other’s limitations, and collaborate together.

The blog (link in comments) covers my frameworks, newsletter, and the story behind this work. Worth reading (4 mins) if you’re ready to move beyond basic AI productivity hacks.

Ready to join us in Cleveland? I have a discount code ADAMS200 that saves you $200 off registration. I’ll drop the link in the comments.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

MAICON blog: https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/blog/marketing-ai-conference-liza-adams

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The New AI Playbook: Mindset Shifts for Leaders

Liza Adams · September 20, 2025 ·

Most organizations are still asking “How do we make our processes 10% more efficient with AI?” The leaders pulling ahead are asking completely different questions. They’re writing a new playbook instead of optimizing the old one.

I’m seeing four critical mindset shifts that separate the AI-forward leaders from the rest:

From answer engine to thought partner
Yes, AI gives you better responses than Google. But stop there and you’re missing the point. Use AI to pressure-test ideas, explore alternatives you hadn’t considered, and challenge your assumptions.
From faster to better to different
“AI helps us do the same work in half the time” is table stakes. Move beyond improving existing workflows to reimagine entirely new approaches to customer problems. Speed first, then transformation.
From tool to teammate to systems
Most teams start by using AI for isolated tasks. That’s fine. But the next level is building AI teammates that understand your context and work alongside you. The goal is orchestrating AI systems that support workflows across functions.
From org charts to work charts
AI doesn’t care about department boundaries. The orgs making the biggest leaps organize around customer outcomes instead of functional silos. When AI connects insights across your marketing, sales, and CS teams, you see how knowledge wants to flow.

Take this quick assessment (4 questions) to see where you are on this journey and get some guidance on what to do next. See link to the interactive quiz in the comments below.

Here’s the interactive quiz. Share your results and our thoughts on it.

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